Ska Legends at the Smiling Buddha Bar

Ska Legends at The Smiling Buddha Bar

On Saturday, February 3, 2007 at the Smiling Buddha Bar in downtown Toronto the myth that ska is dead was once again proved wrong. The Smiling Buddha Bar was host to a killer set of musicians featuring The Pragmatics, Mitch “King Kong” Girio, Frankie Foo and the Yo Yo Smugglers and Chris Murray.

The set began with The Pragmatics, a band with younger musicians who show how ska music has been passed down through generations, and part of the reason why it is still thriving today in the local community. The Pragmatics played a great set with tons of songs that got the crowd moving. In the middle of the set the trumpet player mysteriously ran off stage, but the band kept up their groove and finished up their set.

After a short break Mitch “King Kong” Girio took the stage. Mitch Girio is the singer and guitarist of the band King Kong Girio, but this night he was doing an acoustic solo set. Mitch’s songs were soulful, catching the audiences’ attention with his lyrics and mellowing out the crowd. Mitch also covered “Crazy” by One Night Band of Montreal, occasionally pretending to forget the lyrics to keep the fans on their toes, and slipping in a few jokes here and there. After the mellow tunes of Mitch Girio, the up beat, get off your seat rhythms of Frankie Foo and the Yo Yo Smugglers took the stage.

Frankie Foo and the Yo Yo Smugglers are native Torontonians, playing to their hometown crowd. Frankie Foo tore up the stage, getting people on their feet and dancing with the first note they played. Frankie Foo was up beat, and liked to claim many of their songs to be “love songs” as well as “dancing numbers”, which became a running joke throughout the set. A memorable moment was when the tenor saxophonist Toby Hughes walked into the crowd, laid on the ground, and threw his legs in the air, playing a captivating solo the entire time. Frankie Foo was a band not to be missed, and set the stage for the headliner, Chris Murray.